Fiscal Federalism 2016 surveys recent trends and policies in intergovernmental fiscal relations and sub-central government. Accessible and easy-to read chapters provide insight: into growing spending and tax devolution; the fiscal constitutions of federal countries; how immovable property taxation is regaining its former significance; on the true spending power of sub central governments; on the mix between own tax resources and intergovernmental grants; and on the role of fiscal rules and good budget frameworks for sustainable debt management at the state and local level.

More than ever, students need to engage with mathematical concepts, think quantitatively and analytically, and communicate using mathematics. All these skills are central to a young person’s preparedness to tackle problems that arise at work and in life beyond the classroom. But the reality is that many students are not familiar with basic mathematics concepts and, at school, only practice routine tasks that do not improve their ability to think quantitatively and solve real-life, complex problems.

How can we break this pattern? This report, based on results from PISA 2012, shows that one way forward is to ensure that all students spend more “engaged” time learning core mathematics concepts and solving challenging mathematics tasks. The opportunity to learn mathematics content – the time students spend learning mathematics topics and practising maths tasks at school – can accurately predict mathematics literacy. Differences in students’ familiarity with mathematics concepts explain a substantial share of performance disparities in PISA between socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged students. Widening access to mathematics content can raise average levels of achievement and, at the same time, reduce inequalities in education and in society at large.

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It is a pleasure to be here to present the OECD’s 2016 US Economic Survey. I would like to thank the US Administration ─ in particular Secretary Lew and his Treasury team ─ for their support and input on the Survey, and to Adam Posen and his staff for generously hosting us at the Peterson Institute.

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Canadians enjoy a high level of well-being. On all eleven components of the OECD’s Better Life Index, Canada performs better than the OECD average. The economy and labour markets stood up better than those of most OECD countries to the ravages of the global financial crisis. Still, there are some areas where the country can do even better. Canada needs to improve its productivity performance, building on the recent increased growth in labour productivity to narrow the gap with top-performing OECD countries in terms of the level of productivity. The productivity gap with the United States is particularly large for small and medium-sized enterprises. Productivity growth could also be more inclusive. People from socially disadvantaged backgrounds and Indigenous communities currently do not participate to the extent that they should in the country’s strong economic performance. Finally, Canada needs to make growth greener, in order to contribute its fair share to the global fight against climate change.

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The Greek economy is turning around lately, but it remains in a deep depression. GDP has fallen by more than a quarter between 2007 and 2015, unemployment remains extremely high at 25 percent and anchored poverty – which measures poverty relative to its pre-crisis income level – has nearly tripled between 2007 and 2014, reaching a third of the population.

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Today’s theme – prospering in a low-growth era – suggests that growth rates have declined permanently and that we should focus on how to prosper in such new conditions. There are many problems facing us today not directly related to the pace of economic growth. Indeed, some challenges, like climate change, may actually be eased by slower growth.

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The Canadian economy is adjusting to the fall in commodity prices, but additional policies are needed to boost productivity, reduce financial stability risks and make future growth stronger, greener and more inclusive, according to a new OECD report.